Sunday’s Coverage: Russia Fires Drones on Kyiv

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1714 GMT:

After meeting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says there is progress on the provision of Germany’s advanced long-range Taurus missiles (see 1351 GMT).

UPDATE 1707 GMT:

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said Russia tried to attack a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with missiles last month.

Sunak told the House of Commons, “Thanks to declassified intelligence, we know the Russian military targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles on 24 August.”

A Foreign Office statement said:

[The attacks were] thwarted by Ukrainian forces who shot down multiple missiles heading towards Odesa port.

The missiles, which included two Kalibr missiles fired from a Black Sea Fleet missile carrier, were successfully shot down by Ukraine’s forces on August 24.

Intelligence shows that an intended target was a Liberian-flagged cargo ship berthed in the port.

Since August 16, four cargo ships have successfully navigated through the Russian navy in the Black Sea. The blockade was reimpose on July 17 by Vladimir Putin, who ripped up the July 2022 deal ensuring shipments of grains, foodstuffs, and other essentials from three Ukrainian ports.

UPDATE 1351 GMT:

Visiting Kyiv, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced an additional €20 million ($21.45 million) in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

She noted that the assistance raises Germany’s total to €380 million ($408 million) this year.

But Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged Berlin to confirm the provision of Taurus advanced long-range missiles:

We could have achieved more and saved more lives of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians if we already had Taurus….

You will do it anyway, it’s just a matter of time, and I don’t understand why we are wasting time.

UPDATE 1209 GMT:

The Kremlin has confirmed that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un will soon visit Russia at the invitation of Vladimir Putin.

North Korean State news agency KCNA also says that Kim will meet Putin.

South Korean media reported earlier Monday that Kim apparently had departed for Russia by armored train for North Korea’s north-eastern border. The reports said Kim and Putin could meet in the port city of Vladivostok in the far east of Russia as early as Tuesday.

The encounter is likely to be on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, scheduled for September 10-13 on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok. The Kremlin said Putin will attend the forum for two days.

US officials said in July that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu had visited North Korea in pursue of military assistance. The White House added last week that US intelligence indicates Russia is seeking artillery shells.

UPDATE 0638 GMT:

A senior Russian proxy official has tried to justify the killing of two foreign humanitarian workers and wounding of two others, declaring that Western countries are disguising weapons supplies to Ukraine through aid missions.

Denis Pushilin, the head of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, effectively sanctioned the Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine which killed Spain’s Emma Igual and Canada’s Anthony Ihnat and injured Germany’s Ruben Mawick and Sweden’s Johan Mathias Thyr.

The West is becoming a participant in military crime because these weapons are doing harm to the civilian population. This is the atrocious nature of the crime, which is disguised by humanitarian goals. This is a lie, this is absurdity since weapon cannot be supplied in the name of any humanitarian goals.

UPDATE 0622 GMT:

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in Kyiv for meetings with Ukraine’s senior officials.

At Kyiv’s train station, Baerbock said Germany is “resolutely“ supporting Ukraine over accession to the European Union:

The enlargement of the EU is a necessary geopolitical consequence of Russia’s war.

In the midst of a hail of bombs, in the face of Russia’s tanks, Ukraine has confidently and resolutely set out on the road to the European Union.

The trip is Baerbock’s fourth visit to Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

She said this morning, “With enormous courage and determination, Ukraine is also defending the freedom of all of us. As Ukraine puts itself before us, it can also count on us.”

UPDATE 0615 GMT:

Unsurprisingly, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party has “won” staged elections in four regions of Ukraine partially occupied by Moscow’s forces.

Russian State news agencies proclaimed United Russia victorious with more than 70% of the vote in each region — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south and Donetsk and Luhansk in the east.

Putin declared the “annexation” of the four regions in September 2022. Only Syria and North Korea have recognized the takeovers.

UPDATE 0602 GMT:

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has backed away from his assurance that Vladimir Putin would not be arrested if he attends next year’s G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russia’s “Children’s Rights” Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over the mass deportations of Ukrainian juveniles to Russia and Russian-occupied territory.

Putin did not attend last month’s BRICS Summit in South Africa amid the risk of detention. He also missed last weekend’s G20 Summit in Delhi, even though India is not a signatory to the ICC.

Brazil’s Lula told an Indian news network over the weekend, “If I’m the President of Brazil and if [Putin] comes to Brazil, there’s no way that he will be arrested.”

But on Monday, he said to reporters: “I don’t know if Brazil’s justice will detain him. It’s the judiciary that decides, it’s not the government.”

UPDATE 0527 GMT:

Romania’s Foreign Ministry summoned the head of Russia’s mission on Sunday for an explanation of the remnants of a Russian drone on Romanian territory.

The drone fell amid Russia’s attacks last week on port infrastructure and grain stores in southwest Ukraine, across the Danube River from Romania.

The Romanian government said in a statement that Minister Iulian Fota “firmly requested the Russian side to cease actions against the Ukrainian population and infrastructure, including those that would in any way threaten the safety and security of Romanian citizens in the region”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russian forces have killed two humanitarian workers and wounded two others in shelling of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

The four humanitarians, working with the Ukrainian NGO Road to Relief, were en route to the outskirts of Bakhmut. They were going to assess the needs of civilians near the frontline of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

The van in which they were travelling was struck by shells. The vehicle flipped and caught fire.

Emma Igual of Spain, the organization’s director, and Anthony Ihnat of Canada were slain. Ruben Mawick of Germany and Johan Mathias Thyr of Sweden were injured.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the killings were “a painful, irreparable loss”. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remarked:

This Russian shelling once again confirms how close the war against Ukraine is to everyone in the world who truly values human life and who believes it is the common moral duty of humanity to stop terror and defeat evil.

Russian officials did not comment on the attack and the victims.